Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 11h

So, undercut her own professionalism to bolster the claim that she's not doing something subject to regulation, because... untrained conversation isn't malpractice?

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Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 18h

Receipts: "biological sex" proliferated in political conversation and legislation when ADF put its bathroom bills out in 2015, and then again with the sports and gender affirming care ban bills of 2020/21 - ant at that time almost exclusively in the mouths of transphobes.

bsky.app/profile/lizs...

Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 3d

Your periodic reminder that "biological sex" is a propaganda term spread by anti-trans groups, largely pushed by Christian Nationalists orgs like Alliance Defending Freedom; Family Resource Council & Family Policy Alliance; and the Heritage Foundation.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Sex and Gender Definitions in Legislation

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Liz Saila

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 22h

"Look, the President clearly has some kind of dementia" should be how Democrats begin every single comment to reporters these days.

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 1d

Ruben Gallego on whether Trump is talking to Democrats:

“Look, the President clearly has some kind of dementia, so I think there's a he's probably talking to himself, or think he's talking to a Democrat, but I sincerely doubt that that's actually he's actually physically talking to a Democrat.“

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Reposted by Liz Saila

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 20h

The first Law Dork oral argument report of the new Supreme Court term is a doozy: Chiles v. Salazar, over Colorado’s conversion therapy ban.

Supreme Court likely to strike down Colorado's conversion therapy ban

A lesson in how defining the case often resolves the case.

www.lawdork.com

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Reposted by Liz Saila

Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 22h

My full recap for @jezebeldotcom.bsky.social

Jezebel @jezebeldotcom.bsky.social · 22h

Tuesday's Supreme Court arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, about whether banning conversion therapy violates free speech rights, were a doozy.
www.jezebel.com/christian-la...

Christian Law Firm Argues That Conversion Therapy Is Helpful, Actually

Tuesday's Supreme Court arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, about whether banning conversion therapy violates free speech rights, were a doozy.

www.jezebel.com

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Reposted by Liz Saila

Movement Advancement Project @mapresearch.bsky.social · 1d

The U.S. Supreme Court heard a case earlier today involving laws that protect young people from dangerous, discredited conversion “therapy” practices.

Read more in our thread below. ⬇️ 🧵
www.axios.com/2025/10/07/s...

Supreme Court weighs case on conversion therapy for youth

The case will likely decide the fate of laws in almost half of the states that restrict the practice.

www.axios.com

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Reposted by Liz Saila

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @madycast.com · 1d

Hi, I'm a trans Californian who reported on the CA bills. This headline is misleading at best. You haven't noted that he has until the 12th to sign the other bills, leaving that out is irresponsible and fearmongers.

People can and should still pressure him on those bills.

bsky.app/profile/mady...

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @madycast.com · 1d

He hasn't signed the other bills yet, but he still has days to do so
This headline is misleading for not mentioning that.

The gender education veto is bad, but far from the most important trans rights bill on his desk.

There's still time to contact Newsom for the rest!

www.gov.ca.gov/contact/

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Reposted by Liz Saila

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 1d

I don't even know what to say about @aaron.bsky.team announcing that actually they feed all images posted on Bsky into an AI that just a year ago they told everyone they had banned from using Bsky images

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Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 1d

I hadn't had it on the LegiAlerts tracker before as the bill's text itself is so light, none of my usual searches turned it up.

legiscan.com/CA/text/AB86...

California AB86 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session

Bill Text (2025-10-01) Instructional materials: health education. [Vetoed by Governor.]

legiscan.com

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Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 1d

The vetoed bill, AB 86, would have put into law the state Health Education Frameworks that already have been regulation under the Dept. of Ed since 2019.

www.cde.ca.gov/ci/he/cf/doc...

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Reposted by Liz Saila

Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) @lawyers4goodgov.bsky.social · 2d

BREAKING: L4GG has filed suit against the EPA for unlawfully revoking $7B in Solar for All grants.

These funds were meant to help families cut energy bills + pollution. We won’t let communities lose their clean energy future to unlawful overreach.

Read the @nytimes.com feature: L4GG.org/NYTSFA

Groups Sue E.P.A. Over $7 Billion in ‘Solar for All’ Grants

The lawsuit accused the Environmental Protection Agency of illegally revoking the money without congressional approval.

L4GG.org

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Reposted by Liz Saila

Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 3d

Your periodic reminder that "biological sex" is a propaganda term spread by anti-trans groups, largely pushed by Christian Nationalists orgs like Alliance Defending Freedom; Family Resource Council & Family Policy Alliance; and the Heritage Foundation.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Sex and Gender Definitions in Legislation

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Liz Saila

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @madycast.com · 2d

Look through the average starter pack of trans people on here and most of the time it'll be like 80 to 90% white, if not higher tbh.

So we get a knd of space where no one learns how to combat racism against trans POC because white people never talk about it, and POC aren't given the platform to.

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @madycast.com · 3d

Have you ever noticed how absurdly white spaces like trans Bluesky are? I have. You should be able to notice things like this without trying if you have done the work to be anti racist.

It doesn't mean people are malicious, but it shows that systemic bias is pernicious, and does not spare us

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Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 2d

More recently, from 2022 forward, Independent Women's Voices has been behind a push that continues the biological sex language and pushes for a egg and sperm production definition of female & male, like we see in DJT's anti-trans executive orders.

sites.google.com/view/liz-h-s...

Liz.H.Saila - WBR as a Vector of Anti-trans Hate

Introduction This doc describes the so-called “Women’s Bill of Rights” and it's more developed successor model bill, the "Stand with Women Act". It lists bills, laws, and executive orders incorporati...

sites.google.com

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Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 3d

It's also part of a larger prescriptive worldview that confines men and women into locked roles consistent with certain religious/cultural doctrines that were tired & outdated 50 years ago.

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Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 3d

The anti-trans folks want you to use "biological sex" as a veneer of scientism to make you think what your junk looked like when you were born is the only "real" meaning of sex, gender, and how folks should be treated along those lines.

It's a lie.

sites.google.com/view/liz-h-s...

Liz.H.Saila - Biological Sex

Different parts of “Biological Sex” The phrase "biological sex" as in "biological boys" "biological girls" and such is problematic on multiple levels, not the least of which is that it has become a d...

sites.google.com

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Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 3d

It started appearing significantly in legislation after ADF included it in its bathroom ban model bills in 2015, dropped off a bit after the 2017 backlash to NC's bathroom law, & kicked into high gear with ADF's Sports Ban bills in 2020 & FPA/FRC's Gender Affirming Care ban bills in 2020 & 2021.

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Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 3d

Your periodic reminder that "biological sex" is a propaganda term spread by anti-trans groups, largely pushed by Christian Nationalists orgs like Alliance Defending Freedom; Family Resource Council & Family Policy Alliance; and the Heritage Foundation.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Sex and Gender Definitions in Legislation

docs.google.com

1 16 42

Reposted by Liz Saila

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 5d

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 3d

I wrote about why the regrettable conclusions of Ezra Klein pissed me off so badly in the last couple weeks.

On moral cowardice in an era that calls for clarity, and a popular political instinct to try to solve divisions of abuse by ignoring causes. www.the-reframe.com/eventually-y...

Eventually You're Going to Have to Stand for Something

On accepting the fascist offer and being better than Ezra.

www.the-reframe.com

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Reposted by Liz Saila

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 4d

This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.

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Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 5d

Last year in late 2024, Congress pushed through the Defense budget while leaving rest of it up in the air w/ CRs
That's when we wound up with the TRICARE GAC ban for minors.

These are the anti-trans riders in the most recently published version for this budget cycle

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

FY 2026 Federal Budget on Trans - Just Defense

Introduction This document contains the anti-trans provisions just of the most recent National Defense Authorization Act bill published to LegiScan. For the full list of anti-LGBTQ+ budget riders f...

docs.google.com

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Liz Saila @lizsaila.bsky.social · 8d

Right, you didn't have to wait for Project 2025. Even if you weren't, say, paying attention to the state legislatures or Christian Nationalists, DJT put out shit like this in January 2023

www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/pre...

President Trump’s Plan to Protect Children from Left-Wing Gender Insanity | Donald J. Trump For President 2024

President Trump today announced his plan to stop the chemical, physical, and emotional mutilation of our youth.

www.donaldjtrump.com

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Reposted by Liz Saila

Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 10d

My latest:”Through gossamer tributes, Kirk’s cruel condemnation of transgender people & his racist throwback views abt Black Americans were no longer anathema but instead are being treated as just another political view to be respectfully debated —like a position on tax rates or health care policy.”

What the Public Memory of Charlie Kirk Revealed

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Liz Saila

Sasha Costanza-Chock @schock.cc · 9d

This is in Somerville, very close by to where my family lives

JT Scott @jtforward2.bsky.social · 18d

The next two minutes of video show me offering to walk off with him since he's not being detained. He declines, because he "doesn't want to be rude". Less than two minutes later, they place him in cuffs with no explanation and stuff him into a car with NY plates.

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